“Shit!”
“Excuse me?” Franny snapped. “This might be your house now but show some respect.”
“Clara?” Grandma pulled from our hug and looked into my face.
“I think I made a very big mistake. A huge one. Eli knew, he accepted it, but I couldn’t. He was kneeling in the snow… only wearing jeans — he had to be freezing — he had a ring and everything.” My voice was a wail by the time I finished rambling.
“There’s only one thing you can do when you make a mistake, Clara.” Grandma wrapped her hands around my own and squeezed them.
“What’s that?”
“Fix it, you ninny!” Franny gasped in exasperation. “Idiot… just like her grandfather.”
Franny’s outburst had Grandma and I both laughing until tears stained our cheeks. I was beginning to realize that there were a lot of worse things I could be other than like my grandfather.
Chapter Nine
Nerves filled me as I clutched the wheel of my little car. I’d never driven on a road covered in ice and snow before and I was most likely being overly cautious as I followed the directions on my GPS.
Grandma and Franny had helped me unload my car and to find the things I needed for my apology. Now, I was finally heading to give that apology to the man who had offered me everything I could ever want. He’d offered me a forever gift — if I had accepted his proposal he would have been a precious gift I would be given every morning when we woke up together. Now, if he’d just offer the gift again — I knew to say yes this time.
Eli’s family’s house came into view and I saw the curtain in the huge bay window fall back into place as I carefully made the turn onto the snow-covered drive. My car’s back tires slid as they left the icy road and I clutched the wheel tighter as I pulled up beside Nikko Angelo’s vehicle.
Nerves filled me as I left my car running. The heat was blasting at the max and I let it seep into me as I closed my eyes and fought to push back the fear which had controlled me for so long. Ever since I was a little girl I had been taught that I could only depend on my mother but then my mother had died. It had left me feeling adrift and lost. My anchor line had been cut and I hadn’t known what to do.
Then my grandmother had offered a new line, a new anchor — the Wood Family Farm. I knew my grandmother wouldn’t live forever but she offered me everything she had and then gave me her love even before I had earned it.
Then, Eli Angelo had turned around and done the exact same thing — he had offered himself for as long as I would have him. However, even though I wanted to see where his gift would take me, I still didn’t understand it. We barely knew each other.
The door to the house opened and Eli stepped out onto the porch. His gaze was unreadable as he stood and looked at me.
“Well, it’s now or never,” I sighed as I reached to grab up my gift for him from the passenger seat.
“What you want, Clara?” Eli’s voice held no emotion but I saw him shift on his feet nervously.
“Eli, I…”
“What’s in your hands?” Curiosity sparked in his gaze and I smiled to myself.
“Well, you see, I was a bit limited, so I made you these.” I held out the bouquet of paper snowflakes.
Grandma had a whole room filled with craft supplies and we’d used cardstock paper to cut out snowflakes and then attached them to some pipe cleaners for stems. A healthy sprinkle of glitter and they looked pretty good if I said so myself. In the middle, we’d created a little heart-shaped paper box which held a message for Eli.
Remembering Grandma’s story about when grandpa proposed, I held them out and waited.
Eli looked at my offering and the corners of his mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile.
“And, just what are these for?” Eli asked.
“Take them and look in my heart,” I responded.
Something passed over his gaze as he stepped down the steps to approach me. He looked closer at the bouquet and reached into the middle to carefully open the heart. Inside was a small piece of paper…
Love is new to me. I’m sorry. Will you give me a chance?
Eli looked at the paper and then at me. His fingers wrapped around the scrap of paper and he reached out with his opposite hand to cup my face. With his hand, he pulled me toward him as he stepped forward.
“No apologies,” he whispered against my lips. “I may have gotten a bit excited by the moment.”
Eli grinned and then pressed a chaste kiss to my lips. “I love you, Clara. I’ll wait as long as you need me to wait for you to figure things out for yourself.”
“Figure what out?”
“That you’re mine… and always have been.”
My instinct was to argue that no one owned me. I’d always had to be tough, to protect myself and my mother after she got sick. In the world I’d grown up, nothing was for free and everything had strings.
“Don’t you believe in love at first sight, Clara?” Eli broke me out of my thoughts.
“No,” I glared at him in frustration as my flight or fight reflex tried to take control.
“What about Christmas miracles?” Eli offered as he shoved the piece of paper in his pants pocket and placed both hands on either side of my face.
“No,” I chuckled as something cold hit my nose.
Glancing up into the sky I found snow falling gently from the heavens. It was so pure… just like the emotion shining in Eli’s eyes.
“Well, Christmas miracles… maybe,” I smirked as I changed my answer.
Eli pulled me into his body and crushed the paper snowflakes between us. “When you’re ready, I want to ask you a
